Vernon Morningstar / Kelowna Capital News / Salmon Arm Observer / Lake Country Calendar – February 10, 2018
A retired Vernon engineer has completed a technical assessment of the decisions made by the provincial government during last year’s disastrous floods throughout the Okanagan Valley.
And Brian Guy says the yet-to-be-released report contains “a long list of recommendations” based on the monitoring data that was collected and assessed.
Hired by the province to perform an independent review, Guy told the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) this week his review has been submitted to the provincial government, and discussion about how the report will be rolled out is currently taking place.
While he wouldn’t say specifics of the report, Guy acknowledged there is great interest in his findings from municipalities across the Okanagan Valley because of the impact the flooding imposed on the region.
“Kelowna spent $2.5 million on flood-related response work, so the question of whether the province did its job or not is a question many municipalities are interested in,” said Guy. “It was an internal study of how ministry staff responded and they wanted an outside independent person do it.”.
A request for proposals went out last year and Guy’s former firm, Associated Engineering in Vernon, got the contract for the review.